Merit Financial Group LLC Raises Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 17.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 50,340 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,316 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $5,694,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Abbott Laboratories by 10.0% during the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 35,323 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $3,670,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 14.4% during the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 54,359 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $5,648,000 after acquiring an additional 6,859 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,418,470 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $147,394,000 after acquiring an additional 100,821 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.5% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 479,241 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $49,799,000 after acquiring an additional 20,480 shares during the period. Finally, Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.5% in the second quarter. Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC now owns 20,401 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $2,120,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE ABT opened at $113.45 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.48, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.73. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $121.64. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $112.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.01. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 20.18%. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from Abbott Laboratories’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is 66.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Abbott Laboratories to $136.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $131.57.

Abbott Laboratories Profile

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The company provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Ménière’s disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.